EXPLORE WEST CHESTER BORO

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The Borough of West Chester is the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,461 at the 2010 census. West Chester University of Pennsylvania is located in the borough. Valley Forge, the Brandywine Battlefield, Longwood Gardens, Marsh Creek State Park, and other historical attractions are nearby. The area was originally known as Turk’s Head — after the inn of the same name located in what is now the center of the borough. West Chester has been the seat of government in Chester County since 1786, and the borough incorporated in 1799. In the heart of town is its courthouse, a classical revival building designed in the 1840s by Thomas U. Walter, one of the architects for the Capitol in Washington, D.C. In the eighteenth century West Chester was a center of clockmaking. In the late nineteenth century the Hoopes, Bro. and Darlington company became a major wheelworks, first for wagons and later automobiles. In the early twentieth, an important industry was the Sharples cream separator company. In the late twentieth the pioneer in microcomputers Commodore International, giving its headquarters as West Chester, was located approximately a mile northeast of the borough.

The West Chester Downtown Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Other listed properties are the Bank of Chester County, Buckwalter Building, Butler House, Chester County Courthouse, William Everhart Buildings, Farmers and Mechanics Building, First Presbyterian Church of West Chester, New Century Clubhouse, Joseph Rothrock House, Sharples Homestead, Sharples Separator Works, Warner Theater West Chester Boarding School for Boys, and West Chester State College Quadrangle Historic District.

Geography and climate

West Chester is located at 39°57′31″N 75°36′18″W (39.958678, -75.605052). It is located 25 miles (40 km) west of Philadelphia and 17 miles (27 km) north of Wilmington, Delaware.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 1.8 square miles (5 km2), all of it land.

Annual high temperatures average between 38.1 °F (3.4 °C) and 85.7 °F (29.8 °C), annual low temperatures average between 19.3 °F (−7.1 °C) and 63.3 °F (17.4 °C), with the record high being 105 °F (41 °C), and record low being −16 °F (−27 °C).